Blood meets Stone on a Sunny Day (Maron)

[maron]

Finally Maron was able to bring herself to laugh. He’d been afraid she wouldn’t be enjoying herself? Well, then it was a really good thing she was having fun! Now she wished they were on the ground, if only so she could hug him for half making her go Cliff Gliding. She never would have done it by herself, and completely missed out on such a thrilling adventure! Not to mention she had been getting even more into adrenaline pumping activities and sports recent. She had ‘borrowed’ Xenthron’s Motorcycle after all!

It were these times she also wished she could bring herself to leave the Runaways. To be able to have adventures like this all the time, with someone who was slowly, well… not so slowly, becoming dear to you.

Unlike Art, Maron failed to notice their closeness physically, she was much too busy taking in the beautiful view. Then, she just had to have a thought, that instantly made her curious. “How do you land these…?” That might have been something to ask sooner, but Art had done this before! She shouldn’t have to worry about that to much…. Right?

[cartertcat]

"Well, when we actually get close enough to land. We catch a downdraft, and pull up. Then we'll land, gently - hopefully - on the ground," Art told her, chuckling. There was no reason that they wouldn't land safely. There wasn't a storm of anything, so they would be fine.

Phoenix hadn't even thought to check the time. By now it was one. Wow, time really flew when you were flying. To the left of them, land! Since it had been about an hour, where ever they were, it farther then the far he was expecting. But if it'd just been a routine flight, it wouldn't really be an adventure.

Thanks to Art's peripheral vision, he was able to see land. He was a little distracted by Marons aw struck facial expression.
"Oh. land Ho!" he said, sounding like a pirate purposely. He leaned to the left, catching the wind at the perfect time. They were now coasting in the direction of land.

[maron]

Hopefully. Greaaat. He could have left out the hopefully part. Smiling sheepishly, she shook her head. “I don’t think saying ‘hopefully’ helped all that much.” None the less though, she laughed. If this were anyone else she had been with, she might have worried about the ‘hopefully’ part. Art though? Seemed like he was only saying it to get a reaction from her. Which he did, none the less.

Maron spotted the hard packed earth called land just about the same time Art did. Well, looked like they would be landing pretty soon now. It was a shame… but also a relief. Maron rather quite enjoyed having her feet on the ground, even if gliding like this had been amazing. What made her laugh though was his ‘pirate slang’. “Oh, are you a pirate now? Guess I should be a little worried, in case you try and kidnap me and take me back to your ship.” She grinned.

[cartertcat]

"Oh, well now I'm gunna have to, Arrr" Art said, trying to keep a straight face but failing. He'd never been good at acting. He had been a lost boy in peter pan when he was younger. The audience had no idea that a lost boy could screw up one line so bad and run off stage. That was an embarrassing memory.

Phoenix took his chance, catching a down draft. The glider responded correctly, aiming its nose downward. As they approached the land, Art pulled up, which made Maron pull up in return. They both touched down quite softly onto the multicolored sand.

"Time to take you to the ship," Art laughed, unhooking the both of them. It felt weird being on semi-solid ground again.

[maron]

Why on Earth was she playing along with this Pirate theme? It was so childish… But, childish seemed to be perfectly fine when she was around Art. Acting her age, for once. She smiled a little. She liked that idea.

Maron suddenly blinked as she felt a downdraft catch them. Oh, Art was taking them down. She followed suit, making sure follow his movements as not to mess up the entire landing. He was right, the landing wasn’t that bad. Only problem? Maron had no freaking idea how to unhook herself from the glider. Thankfully, Art was well ahead of her, already having released both of them before the thought had even crossed her mind.
“Eeh? Why not later? I’d like to reacquaint myself with the ground first.” Maron flopped onto the sand, eyes shut as she lay on her back. Ah, such a warm day. It was a shame she hadn’t brought a swimming suit, otherwise she’d be out there, running in the waves.

[cartertcat]

Art to lay on his back next to her. It was a really nice day. Looking up at the sky, the clouds seemed to make pictures. A bunny? Hmm, that was a random cloud formation.
"Well if you insist," thinking about it, it wold have been smart for them both to bring bathing suits. It really would have been a good idea because of what happened next.

They both hadn't anticipated the height and force of the waves. That was unfortunate because a particularly large wave washed onto the both of them; soaking them. Thankfully though, the water was warm. His hair changes to bright crimson red, the color it was when they'd both met.
"that... was unexpected," Art said, laughing. He'd forgotten what saltwater tasted like.

[maron]

Maron was just about to give a response of her own when one particularly rude wave decided to crash over them at that very moment. Maron sputtered, coughing from the swallowed ocean water and instantly sitting up. After regaining her breath, she laughed.
“What a rude wave!”

Eyes open again, she quickly yanked off both her boots, tossing them to higher ground, where the shoe wear would hopefully be able to dry in peace, followed by rolling up her jeans to her knees. She laughed again, almost out of the blue. How long had it been since she actually went to the beach, and done more than just watch the swimmers from the pier? How long had it been since she actually got wet when she was at the beach? She couldn’t recall a time for either instance to tell the truth.

[cartertcat]

Art was laughing himself. He already had two holes below the knees of his skinny jeans. Taking out the box cutter, he cut off rest of the skinny jeans from that point on. They were now skinny shorts. He cut them rather easily; that's what it had become.
"Wait for me!" Phoenix called to Maron. Standing up, he brushed sand off his shorts. He ran after Maron, tackle-hugging her into the waves. That was definitely our of his character. But it was most definitely fun. By now they were both completely soaked anyway.

Art had dragged the glider far enough away, which contained his dry jacket, luckily. He had no idea where they were, maybe Canada even. Well, where ever they were, they were together.

[maron]

Maron hadn’t gone far, only a few feet, when she was suddenly tackled from behind, toppling over as she laughed. She couldn’t help the feelings bubbling from inside her chest. She wished the day would never end, that they’d be able to stay in this carefree world forever, never having to worry about, well anything.

Reality came crashing down on her though. Her eyes were shut to only a crack, so she could tell what was around her, but avoid any real eye contact, sitting in knee deep water with Art next to her. Running her fingers through her hair, she sighed. “You know… Logically speaking, we shouldn’t be friends like this. If there was an accident…” She stopped, the words locking in her thought. It almost hurt when she finally pushed them through. “If… Anything were to happen…. You wouldn’t change back. Ever…”

The thoughts that plagued her mind terrified her. If she ever turned her first real friend to stone, she’d never be able to forgive herself. She’d lose that last amount of will to live…

[cartertcat]

Thinking about it now, doing what he'd just done wasn't smart. His ribs had paid for it severely, though he didn't show it. Art had thought about what she'd said the previous night actually.

"Who is to say that I ever think logically?" He asked her, smiling but still serious. "And, I know the risks. But meeting someone like you, I'll have to take them." He said, sweeping his white bangs away from his vision. He didn't want some power to stop Maron from actually living. It was also the first time that he actually felt alive himself.

"We can work around it. I promise that, I wont hurt you." If Phoenix could, he'd look her in the eyes. Right now, she wanted him to know that he wasn't just playing with her emotions. As if he would ever do that to her. She was to sweet, and cute, innocent. So before Art knew it he was kissing his new Friend. Eyes closed, because really, who kissed with their eyes open?

Art pulled away, looking down as some of the smaller waves crashed at their knees. Had he really just done that? That was a little more then a friendly kiss. Phoenix didn't know weather to be happy, or mad with himself. What if he'd just screwed everything up? Still though, for a first kiss, if sparks could have flown, they probably would have.
"Sorry... I just.." He started tried to splutter out the words that wouldn't come.

[maron]

The choked laugh that escaped her lips was both happy and sad. Happy he didn’t care what might happen. Sad that… he didn’t care. The risk was great, always there as long as they were together. “Shouldn’t we be more worried about me hurting you?” From the way he had spoken though, it just near sent butterflies loose in her stomach. If she could have looked at him as he spoke, without turning him to stone, there most certainly would have been butterflies. Plenty, and plenty of butterflies.

Then… The most unexpected thing happened. One of the many things on her list of never being able to do. Just above ‘Find a nice guy’, and just below ‘Fall in love’. He was kissing her. And, to tell the truth? She most definitely didn’t hate it. Now she knew why other people kissed so often.

Thousands of butterflies escaped into her stomach, her whole body a flutter. Her first kiss. Never, in her wildest dreams had she imagined this ever possible.

She was slightly disappointed when he finally pulled away, but he was probably terrified of what her reaction might be from his action. She giggled, the sound almost giddy. Why was she laughing?! Oh God, she couldn’t stop it from coming! She was just so happy, she couldn’t stop. Maron had to respond somehow though, to make sure he realized she wasn’t laughing at him. Best course of action? She threw her arms around him, burying her head in his shoulders. “Don’t apologize. Please, don’t.”

[cartertcat]

Art wasn't prepared for the giggling. Was that a good thing? When she wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulder, that was reassuring. So giggling was a good thing? Did this mean they were just good friends that happened to kiss? Or were they a maybe, almost, sort of, couple? He really hoped that it was the latter.

"Well... in case you slapped me or something, i wanted to apologize first," Phoenix told her, chuckling as he wrapped his arms around her and sat back onto the sand. The waves had calmed down now so they were just barley washing up on them. At the moment it was bliss. Nothing could really ruin this moment.

There were still some lingering, uneasy thoughts about certain things. Though right now, all he could really think about was Maron. How could he not at a time like this? It was probably two now so they had time to do whatever they wanted. Even though at the moment all Art really wanted was to stay in this tight embrace and freeze time around them.

[maron]

Art’s words started that whole giggling fit all over again, this time though she had a much easier time controlling the sounds so she could speak. “Why would I ever slap you?” Her words her muffled by the wet fabric of his shirt, but Maron didn’t care. It was a warm day after all! Besides, even if it were freezing, she wouldn’t have passed up a moment like this.

Maron was the same as Art, wishing time would just freeze for them. She knew it wouldn’t though, sadly neither of them had the ability to stop time. A shame really, as she knew there must be someone out there capable of it. How she wished she could lean back a little and look at him, really look at him. With no fear of harming him. She knew she’d never be able to… “What color are your eyes…?” Half curious, half desperate, for an answer. She wanted to at least know that much.

[cartertcat]

"Blue, bright blue," Art told her, resting his chin on top of her head. He could tell by the way her heart picked up that she'd probably wanted to know this for a long time. Probably not half as bad as he'd wanted to know the color of her eyes. He wouldn't dare ask her though, not today. For now the question could just keep him up. Imagining what the color of her eyes must be.

He didn't really know what to say now. Just sitting here like this. Together, warming each other up, along with some help from the sun seemed to be enough. They might not see each other for another day. Or two. Maybe, which meant probably, even longer. That seemed unfair. He didn't like being away from someone that made him happy.

"So I think this confirms it... we both are a little crazy," Phoenix chuckled. "but who ever said crazy was a bad thing" he added, wishing that he'd kissed Maron longer then he did.

[maron]

Blue, he’d said. Oh, how she wished she could see just how blue ‘bright blue’ meant. She already liked blue well enough, now? It was probably working its way up towards her favorite colors. In the silence that followed, she noticed a small change, as if he’d wanted to ask something, but held the question back. If it weren’t for being so… distracted, she might have tried to figure out what that question might have been. Oh well, she’d just have to figure it all out later.

Maron pulled her head back a little when he announced they were both a little crazy, smiling like a fool while keeping her eyes closed. “A little crazy?” She paused, chuckling and shaking her head. “I think we are both way past a little crazy.” Another pause as she laughed a little more. “Not to mention, I think both of our senses of direction stink. Because I have absolutely no idea where we are, and I doubt you have a clue either.” She grinned softly.

Of course, right then she just had to realize how close they were. Arms wrapped around the other, his lips just inches from her ears. Oh God. Her cheeks blushed faintly again, the butterflies waking up in her chest again. Why did she have to notice that now? Of all times…